A new review of vocational education misses an opportunity to encourage the promotion of entrepreneurial skills so vital for our future, says Tom BewickAlison Wolf's review of vocational education is potentially a retrograde step in terms of making real progress; and not because her central desire to elevate the quality of vocational learning is wrong.
Her report, commissioned by the education secretary, Michael Gove, makes many laudable recommendations. But what is perhaps misguided is the perspective from which many of the assumptions in the report are made.
Wolf, a senior academic from Kings College, provides an academic perspective, and reaches broadly academic conclusions about what is going wrong.
Most would agree that Britain is historically weak in vocational education. We also struggle in the state system to really stretch some of our most able pupils, including ensuring more than 50% of them achieve the basics in both English and maths. But it is a mistake to believe that the answer is a 1950s style of education. Gove welcomed this report so emphatically because it provides the intellectual fire power for his more traditionalist view of education: academic excellence for an elite few, better quality vocational training for everyone else.
The reality is that in today's world young people do not need an either-or approach – academic or vocational – they need both.
Wolf is a fan of the Enlightenment model and laments the fact that in recent years Britain has begun to leave this system behind. Her report highlights the countries that do better, but she omits the fact that they spend on average between 1% and 2% more of their GDP on high-quality vocational training and apprenticeships.
Disappointingly, the report is completely silent on how we develop more entrepreneurial mindsets and skills among our young people. Worrying statistics released last week show that enterprise education is a task in which we, as a nation, are failing.
Make Money, Make a Difference: Backing Britain's Future, a new report from Enterprise UK with research commissioned from YouGovStone, reveals that 53% of young people do not feel they are encouraged at school to be entrepreneurial. One in four admit they get most of their knowledge about business from popular television programmes such as Dragons' Den. Educators need to face up to the fact that our current model is broken. The common belief that a single pathway from school to university is the only way to get a good job no longer holds true.
We must challenge and inspire young people with the idea that they can make it happen for themselves, by nurturing a new culture of enterprise education, embedding the key ingredients of entrepreneurship in the curriculum. Initiatives like Tenner Tycoon, which runs throughout March and loans 40,000 school children a £10 note, are vital to motivating the next generation of entrepreneurs. Over the next few years, the scheme will expand to over 1 million pupils.
In addition, we need to address how we invest in young talent, and this means ending the monopoly universities have over student loans provision. George Osborne's budget at the end of the month should announce a new Youth Investment Trust to replace the Student Loans Company. This would provide young people with access to state-subsidised loans for purposes other than access to higher education, including capital for new start-ups.
Developing a network of truly inspiring entrepreneurial colleges should be our major priority.
By Tom Bewick is chief executive, Enterprise UK
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